1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fabrication of semiconductor structures. More particularly, the present invention relates to formation of semiconductor structures by ion implantation techniques. In particular, the inventive method disclosed herein is applied to formation of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor structure that includes formation of ion-implant enhanced isolation trenches for electrical isolation of active areas. The invention is applicable to formation of semiconductor structures that require two dopants that are different or opposite in conductivity enhancement of semiconductor silicon.
2. The Relevant Technology
In the microelectronics industry, a substrate refers to one or more semiconductor layers or structures which includes active or operable portions of semiconductor devices. In the context of this document, the term "semiconductive substrate" is defined to mean any construction comprising semiconductive material, including but not limited to bulk semiconductive material such as a semiconductive wafer, either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials thereon, and semiconductive material layers, either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials. The term substrate refers to any supporting structure including but not limited to the semiconductive substrates described above.
In the microelectronics industry, the process of miniaturization entails shrinking the size of individual semiconductor devices and crowding more semiconductor devices into a given unit area than has been previously achieved. With miniaturization, problems of device crowding arise. For example, problems of proper isolation between components arise. When miniaturization demands the shrinking of individual devices, isolation structures must also be reduced in size.
To form an isolation trench, a photoresist material is applied to a semiconductive material into which the isolation trench is to be formed, preferably by etching the semiconductive material. A beam of light, such as ultraviolet (UV) light, transfers a pattern through an imaging lens from a photolithographic template to the photoresist material. The pattern of the photolithographic template includes opaque and transparent regions with selected shapes that match corresponding openings and intact portions intended to be formed in the photoresist material. The photolithographic template is conventionally designed by computer-assisted drafting and is of a much larger size than the semiconductor structure on which the photoresist material is located. Light is directed through the photolithographic template and is focused on the photoresist coating in a manner that reduces the pattern of the photolithographic template to the size of the photolithographic coating and that develops the portions of the photoresist coating that are unmasked and are intended to remain. The undeveloped portions are thereafter easily removed. Other photolithographic techniques for formation of semiconductor structures are also possible. After the removal of the undeveloped portions of the photoresist material, the isolation trench is etched into the semiconductive material.
Isolation trenches and active areas are often doped, either to enhance conductivity around an isolation area, to increase the breakdown voltage (BV) of an active area diode which is adjacent to a field isolation trench, and/or to achieve a higher threshold voltage (V.sub.T) of a parasitic field transistor.
For the fabrication of a complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device, ion implantation is used to form a preferred BV of an active area diode and a preferred V.sub.T a parasitic field transistor. The BV and V.sub.T are achieved by patterning a first mask on an N-well side of the CMOS device being fabricated. Next, dopant ions are implanted into the P-well portion of the device. Following dopant ion implantation of the P-well, the mask must be removed and the CMOS device must be patterned with a second mask on the P-well side of the CMOS device being fabricated. After patterning of the second mask, the N-well is implanted with dopant ions. This first and second mask technique is required to prevent the wrong type of dopant in each of the N-well and P-well of the CMOS device being fabricated.
The first and second mask process involves several steps which increase the possibility for fabrication errors entering into the process flow that will lower overall production yield. For example, where an isolation trench was formed by an anisotropic etch, a portion of the first mask is polymerized to begin to line the recess formed by the anisotropic etch. In such a case, stripping of the first photoresist may require a stronger stripping solution than would otherwise be needed. During photoresist polymerization, the polymerized photoresist may combine with other exposed portions of the semiconductor structure, such as contaminants, and thereby form a polymer composite film within the recess being formed. Such a polymer composite film resists stripping with conventional stripping solutions. A more effective stripping solution, however, that removes a polymer composite film will likely also cause undesirable topographies of the semiconductor structure that may compromise the integrity thereof.
What is needed is a method of ion implantation in a CMOS semiconductor structure being fabricated that achieves complimentary ion implantation with minimized masking steps in order to improve overall production yield. What is also needed is a method of CMOS fabrication that reduces destructive doping in N-well and P-well portions of a CMOS structure being fabricated while minimizing the number of masking steps.